The Tunnel
by Ryouga Yagami
Summary: Ryouga faces his destiny inside a tunnel. One shot.


The Tunnel Ryouga Yagami ryougayagami@hotmail.com  
  
Ranma 1/2 belongs to Rumiko Takahashi  
  
"Hope I'm in the way to Nerima", Ryouga said to no one in particular.  
  
Ryouga was walking for days. The last time he was in Nerima, Ranma and him had a fight with no winner. A big explosion interrupted their fight and when Ryouga woke up, he was alone in the middle of a forest.  
  
'Probably someone wanting to kill Ranma for some reason', he thought and continued to walk.  
  
After sometime, Ryouga reached a road. It was night, the cold wind didn't bother Ryouga that much. What was bothering him was the calmness of the place. He looked around, but saw no cars, no trucks, nothing. He walked some meters and looked around again. Complete silence.  
  
'Weird', he thought. He tried to keep his nerves under control, but the feeling that something was going to happen didn't let him. He paid attention to every detail. Any shadow, any sound, anything.  
  
'Something is watching me', he thought, stopped to walk and looked around. Landed over a stone was a raven, black as the night. Ryouga walked again looking at the bird and had the strange feeling that the raven was observing his actions. He removed his gaze from the black bird and concentrated on the road he was.  
  
'Stupid bird. I must be getting crazy', he thought.  
  
Some meters ahead, Ryouga saw a construction. It seemed to be a tunnel with some lights inside. He walked a little more and stopped. Something was coming and he knew it. Ryouga got his umbrella and waited. He heard a bark.  
  
Coming from the tunnel, a dog appeared, walked towards Ryouga and barked to him in a not very friendly way. Ryouga moved two steps away and waited the dog's reaction. It continued to bark, but didn't attack. Thinking that he lost some time with the dog, Ryouga decided to walk away, to the tunnel. As Ryouga walked, the dog disappeared behind him, obscured by the night.  
  
The tunnel was not so illuminated as Ryouga imagined. It had some lights, but very weak ones. He continued to walk and noticed the wind was colder than outside the tunnel. 'I'm not feeling alright with it', he thought and heard something behind him. He turned to see what it was, but saw nothing. He stayed looking at the empty space for some time and continued to walk.  
  
After a minute or two, Ryouga saw a light. It wasn't the end of the tunnel. He rushed to it and could see a person holding a torch.  
  
"Hey! Wait!", Ryouga yelled, but the person continued to walk, 'He pretended he didn't hear, the idiot', Ryouga thought and ran to the person.  
  
"Hey! I'm talking to you", he said and patted the person on the shoulder. The man turned to look at Ryouga and smiled.  
  
But he had no eyes.  
  
"Oh, so you came, even if I warned you", the man said.  
  
Ryouga recovered from the fright, "Warned? What do you mean? I..."  
  
"Now that you enter, there's no exit, Ryouga. You had been warned", the man said. The torch he held shone and Ryouga put his arm in front of his eyes.  
  
"What? How did you know my name?", but when Ryouga recovered his vision, the man wasn't there anymore. Ryouga got the torch and looked around, 'Great, now I'll get out of here'  
  
Ryouga walked and walked, but the tunnel didn't seem to reach an end. 'Did I get lost in a straight line?', Ryouga thought. Then he saw other light on the wall. He walked to it and saw a woman sat on a chair looking at the wall.  
  
Ryouga approached and asked, "Excuse me, lady. Do you know where Nerima is?"  
  
The woman didn't take her eyes off the wall, "If I were you, I would not be worried about Nerima now", she said still looking at the wall.  
  
"What do you mean?", the woman extended her arm and pointed the wall. Ryouga turned to see what she was pointing and saw a painting. He illuminated the place with the torch and wished he hadn't.  
  
A painting. Ranma and Akane in a wedding ceremony.  
  
'No', he thought. He was too much shocked to say anything.  
  
"And there are more", the woman said as if she read his mind.  
  
Ryouga walked to see more paintings. The paintings just showed horrible things to him. Akane finding about he being P-chan, Ranma punching him, Ranma and Akane together with a little boy, probably their son, Ryouga alone in a wheat field. Still, between one painting and another, there were black spaces. Ryouga walked back to the woman, his eyes tearing, "Wha... what is the meaning of this?", he asked showing some desperate.  
  
"Didn't you understand?", the woman asked, "This is your future"  
  
That was everything Ryouga didn't want to hear. His heart cracked and he fell on his knees, "No... it can't be... I'll defeat Ranma someday... and Akane will be mine...", he said, but couldn't believe in his own words. He never saw that woman in his life, but knew she was right. Deep in his heart, he knew that the paintings were his future.  
  
Ryouga looked at the paintings again and noticed the black spaces, "What are those?", he asked the woman and pointed a black space.  
  
"The black spaces?", for the first time she turned her eyes to look at Ryouga, "They are not done yet. It all depends of your actions"  
  
"My actions?"  
  
"Yes", the woman stood up and walked, "See this one", she pointed the one where Ranma and Akane were in the wedding ceremony, "This one I can't change"  
  
"You can't!?", Ryouga asked desperated.  
  
The woman looked at the painting, "No", and Ryouga looked down. He couldn't stand up, too weak for that, "But I can change this one, for example", she pointed the painting where Akane find out about P-chan being Ryouga, "Or this one", the painting where Ryouga was alone in a wheat field.  
  
"But the most important, you can't", Ryouga said and looked at the painting of Ranma and Akane with their son.  
  
"Are you saying that your future is not important?", the woman asked.  
  
Ryouga blinked, "Of... of course it is. Why do you ask?"  
  
"You want me to change the future of this two", she said referring to Ranma and Akane, "But what did you do to change your own future?"  
  
"If I can't have Akane, then I don't want a future"  
  
The woman sighed, "Don't talk like this. I don't want to paint your death so early"  
  
"I don't care"  
  
"Really? So you want to be alone in your sadness", she pointed the painting where Ryouga is alone in a wheat field, "It's not hard to put someone here", she said, "Except for Akane, of course"  
  
"Then I..."  
  
"Ryouga, do you want to be happy?", the woman asked and looked at the young man.  
  
Ryouga lift his head and after some time responded, "Yes"  
  
"Do you think there's only one way to be happy?", as Ryouga didn't answer, the woman took his hand, "Come here, I'll show you an alternative future"  
  
They walked some time towards some other space. Ryouga didn't like the way things were going. He and Akane were meant to be together in his mind. 'But there's always... Ranma', he thought.  
  
"Here we are", the woman said, "Take a look"  
  
Ryouga took some time to walk and look at the paintings. In the first, he and Ranma were greeting each other, probably after a fight. This scene was very strange for him, he never thought he and Ranma could get along. The next scene was Ryouga looking at the stars together with a girl. He couldn't recognize the girl, but he smiled at the scene. The next was he and his family together, his parents, his dog, in their house. 'Wow, this scene is very hard to happen', he thought.  
  
'But it can happen... if you want', a voice inside his mind said. Ryouga shook his head and went to the next picture. He and someone... in a wedding ceremony. He looked at the bride, but couldn't see her face. Still, he knew she was the one. He didn't know why, but she was the one.  
  
Seeing that Ryouga began to look a little better, the woman said, "So, what do you think? Can I paint these or begin your death painting?"  
  
Ryouga didn't know why, but he thought the woman was happier here than in the place they were before, "Do I really have a chance... to be happy?"  
  
"Of course you have, Ryouga. Just depends of you", the woman said.  
  
"But... it's so difficult..."  
  
"Ryouga", the woman put a hand over his shoulder, "Life is tough, but you do it tougher than it is. When you feel alone, look around yourself carefully and you will see someone to help you. Don't ever forget that", Ryouga found easier to smile after what he saw and heard, "That's better. Now, go and try to live your life"  
  
Ryouga got his things and walked away. He could not be in the wrong direction. He finally could see the light in the end of the tunnel. He reached the light and everything shone around him.  
  
"Huh?", Ryouga opened his eyes and looked the surroundings. He was near a road and under a tree. It took sometime for him to understand that he woke up, 'Was that... a dream?', he thought and looked for his things. He got his backpack and umbrella. Then he saw, distant, a tunnel. "I... already passed by there... but was that a dream really?", suddenly, someone came running in his direction, "Hey, stop!..", but it was already late as the girl hit him with all her forces and both fell on the ground.  
  
"I'm... I'm really sorry", the girl said, her eyes closed.  
  
"Hey, are you...", Ryouga said and then recognized the girl, "Ukyo?"  
  
Ukyo opened her eyes, "Ryouga! What are you doing here?"  
  
"I could ask you the same thing", he said, stood up and helped Ukyo, "At least I'm near Nerima", then he looked at his friend, "Ok, what happened? Why are you crying?"  
  
"I...", she began, but found difficult to continue, "The thing is..."  
  
"Ranma and Akane are going to marry"  
  
Ukyo blinked, "How did you know?"  
  
Ryouga sighed, "I had a feeling", 'Damn it', then he remembered his dream.  
  
Both stood in silence for some time. The only sounds were some cars passing by and Ukyo sobbing.  
  
'Stupid Ranma. Cause of that idiot she is crying', he thought and clenched his fist. Ukyo saw Ryouga was getting angry and glowing a green energy. She was ready to move away when suddenly he began to...  
  
... smile.  
  
"Do you know Ukyo, today is a beautiful day. I know a place full of apples, want to come?"  
  
Ukyo didn't understand. "Ryouga, are you ok?", she asked and put a hand over his forehead. He, in a very uncharacteristic way, got her hand and said, "C'mon, I think it's this way... or could be that way too... or who knows..."  
  
Ukyo wasn't in the mood to eat apples, but since Ryouga was so gentle trying to cheer her up, she didn't mind being dragged by him to some unknown place. 'I think later we will have to look for a map to go back home', she sighed and smiled while Ryouga lead the way.  
  
From the tunnel, the woman and the dog watched in silence, 'It seems that now I can go back to my paintings', she laughed and went in the tunnel followed by the dog.  
  
*************************************************************************  
  
Thank you 


End file.
